I’m not terribly brave when it comes to my publishing. I wait until it’s in print, online, until I can send someone a link or the book or magazine before I’m willing to talk about publishing a story. So, it was out of character for me to tell people when I had my short story accepted by Lame Goat Press. Even more amazing to me was how confident I felt about all of it. I liked the editor. I enjoyed the process. Everything felt right about it. Even when the contract didn’t come and didn’t come and didn’t come, I didn’t worry. I’d checked the boards and the editor was active and updating us so I knew things were on track. No worries.

Until this morning when I awoke to an email telling me Lame Goat Press was no more. In this economy, this is a common occurrence, so in retrospect I shouldn’t have been surprised. The email named the anthologies that were being published anyway and the one my story was set for was not on it. However, I had another email with a contract attached so I went to the web address on the email where my anthology was shown as being published in spite of the press no longer existing.

I’ve heard the horror stories from other writers. They wait for an anthology or book to come out and just before time the press folds. I did not experience that nightmare with LGP. Even at the end, they immediately worked to rectify and find a way to publish their works in progress and contacted their writers about what was happening. These are people I want to work with and look forward to working with because they have earned my trust. Given our world today, that’s the biggest compliment I could pay them.